Top Shelf Productions

With the decade of the 00s coming to a close, there's been a lot of talk about Craig Thompson's Blankets being one of the decade's key graphic novels.

Now, respected comics critics Sean T. Collins and and Tom Spurgeon have posted a fascinating conversation to The Comics Reporter, about Blankets and its importance to the world of comics. It's perfect for a lazy holiday afternoon read (just like Blankets itself)! Dive in, why don't you?

Here at Top Shelf we're lucky to publish not only some of the best cartoonists on Earth, but some of the friendliest as well! When you work as many conventions as we do, in fact, it's a must. Now, one of the sparkling conversationalists in our roster, Kevin Cannon (Far Arden), puts his charm on display this week with a plethora of podcast appearances for your listening pleasure!

First, hear Kevin bandy words with Canada's finest indie comics radio show host, Robin McConnell, on this episode of Inkstuds! Hear Robin coin the term "Canucksploitation" -- not to be missed!

Then, check out Kevin's chat with the irrepressible Charlito and Mr. Phil of Indie Spinner Rack! This lively talk captures the madness of San Diego Comic-Con.

Also, the dudes at The Mild Mannered Podcast devoted a recent episode to analyzing Far Arden, "an epic adventure of love, loss, and angry orphan punches"!

Finally, if you haven't already, you've gotta hear this radio drama of a scene from Far Arden produced by KFAI in Minneapolis! How cool is that?

Canadian journalist Ian McGillis has a new piece out in the Montreal Gazette highlighting 2009's best graphic novels... including two Top Shelf titles! First, Jeff Lemire's Essex County "achieves an epic sweep even though it’s relatively light on text" and "packs an enormous emotional punch." Then, Kevin Cannon's Far Arden serves as "an odd but effective cross of contemporary nerd-hero comix with Tintin-style exotica" which "zips along with manic logic." For more on these two books, check out the links below!

Amazon's awesome book blog Omnivoracious runs a spotlight today on the amazing Jeffrey Brown and his anything-goes anthology series SULK! Check it out here.

Writer Alex Carr points out one joke he particularly enjoyed from the latest installment, Sulk #3: The Kind of Strength that Comes from Madness, featuring pirates and time-traveling babies. He concludes, "There is plenty to love in the entire series, and it's more than enough to satisfy until Top Shelf's collection of Brown miscellany, Undeleted Scenes, publishes this summer." We couldn't agree more!

In a list packed with solid choices, Paste Magazine has honored Craig Thompson's Blankets with the #1 spot on their "20 Best Graphic Novels of the Decade" countdown! Year after year, Craig's incredible book continues to find new readers to fall in love with it, and we're extremely proud to be the publishers of this modern classic.

Almost there! The release of Eddie Campbell's must-have masterwork Alec: The Years Have Pants is getting mighty close. Eddie recently sat down with John Geddes of USA Today to reflect on the process of assembling this, the largest and most comprehensive collection of his work ever published. (Yep, it's bigger than From Hell!) Check out the interview here!

What a decade! The good folks over at The AV Club have just stuck their necks out on the line by announcing their picks for "The Best Comics of the '00s." The war rages on in their comment threads, of course, but that's what these things are for -- starting conversations!

For our part, we're chuffed to see Top Shelf take three of the top 25 positions, with James Kochalka's American Elf, Craig Thompson's Blankets, and Alex Robinson's Box Office Poison taking their places among some great works from other publishers. If you haven't experienced these three masterpieces for yourself... well, what are you waiting for?! Details and previews of each book can be found below:

Eddie Campbell's domination of all media continues, as he's recently done interviews with Library Journal, Comic Book Resources' Robot 6, and the fine folks at Publishers Weekly!

What major theme has Eddie recently discovered in his work that he never noticed before? What's his next book about? What makes Eddie say "suddenly, my wife had to deal with the possibility that I might be the well-known author I’ve always been claiming to be"? You'll have to read the interviews to find out!

It's all in anticipation of the full release of ALEC: The Years Have Pants, coming to you next month!

The good folks at The AV Club got an advance look at the upcoming Eddie Campbell omnibus Alec: The Years Have Pants, and they're calling it "one of the must-own releases of the year." Click here to read their review (as well as another rave review, of Kevin Cannon's awesome Far Arden)! Then mosey on over to the great interview between Eddie and The AV Club's Leonard Pierce, and watch Eddie drop some serious insight about his book, his life, the comics medium, the art of autobiography, and everything under the sun!

We're delighted to learn that Minneapolis cartoonist Will Dinski has won the prestigious Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics for his pitch-black mini Covered in Confusion! You can read the story here on Will's web site as well as order a copy (with a beautiful 2-color silkscreened cover) from his online shop!

Will has contributed a few stories to Top Shelf 2.0, which you can read here!

Great things are on the way from Will and Top Shelf in 2010... stay tuned for details!

Alex Dueben of Comic Book Resources has just posted a great interview with Eddie Campbell about his massive upcoming omnibus, Alec: The Years Have Pants! Click through to see Eddie's characteristically clever responses, as well as plenty of preview pages!

...in fact, he's exactly cool enough, according to the Harvey Awards committee and voters! This past weekend at the Baltimore Comic-Con, Alex was honored with the Harvey for Best Graphic Album - Original, for his latest book Too Cool to Be Forgotten.

The Harveys, which are nominated and elected by a ballot of comic professionals, have crossed paths with Alex before: Box Office Poison was nominated in 2001, and 2006 saw Tricked win the "Best Graphic Album" Harvey. He now has a second Harvey, which joins an Eisner, an Ignatz, and an Angoulême Prize for Best First Book, on Alex's crowded metaphorical mantel.

Congratulations to Alex and all the other Harvey winners!

Funny what a big-budget film adaptation starring Bruce Willis will do for your book... now more than ever, people are diving into the world of The Surrogates! Top Shelf is delighted to announce that Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele's graphic novel has now held on to the New York Times Best Seller list for three consecutive weeks! See for yourself at the Times' Arts Beat blog, and join us in congratulating the two creators. If you still haven't experienced The Surrogates, you can read a short preview here or download the first chapter for free for your iPhone.

And how about that Nate Powell?! On top of the 2008 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Debut, the LA Times Book Prize nomination, and the Eisner Award for Best New Graphic Novel, Nate recently continued his streak of honors by winning the 2009 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Artist! Nate's Swallow Me Whole is an incredible book that speaks to the confused teenager in all of us, and we're grateful that it's been so warmly received.

Rising superstar Nate Powell, whose Swallow Me Whole was previously awarded "Best Debut" in the 2008 Ignatz Awards (for the best book to debut at the 2008 SPX), has just been announced as a nominee for Best Artist in the 2009 Ignatz Awards, to be held at the 2009 SPX in Bethesda, MD from September 26-27. This marks the latest in a string of honors for Nate and Swallow Me Whole, which most recently received the Will Eisner Award for Best New Graphic Novel in July.

We offer loud congratulations to Nate and to all the Ignatz nominees, and we hope you're all looking forward to SPX! We at Top Shelf certainly are.

New footage continues to roll out of Touchstone Pictures' film adaptation of The Surrogates, debuting next month! Today, it's a host of never-before seen moments from the film, embedded in the tie-in music video "I Will Not Bow" from alt-rock band Breaking Benjamin. Notable parts include a shot of Ving Rhames in action as the Prophet and some amazing stunts from Radha Mitchell's character, Agent Peters! You can watch the whole thing here or click "MORE" to view it after the jump.